Yian
A masculine name of Chinese origin meaning "profound" or "virtuous".
Name Census estimates that about 135 living Americans carry the first name Yian. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Yian today is around 6 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yian births was 2023 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yian. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Yian with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
135
~ 1 in 2,538,921 Americans
Peak year
2023
23 babies that year
Average age
6
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,636
Tracked since 2011
Census
Yian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 467 people with the first name Yian, which placed it at #21,646 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#21,646
National first-name rank
People counted
467
467 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
84.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yian is Asian/Pacific Islander at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.8%) and White (4.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Yian described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Yian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander84.4% · 394
- Hispanic or Latino8.8% · 41
- White4.1% · 19
- Black or African American1.5% · 7
- Two or more races1.3% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Yian
Yian leans heavily male at 83.8% of total registrations, but 22 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Yian as a male name
- Ranked #5,636 in 2024
- 17 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (17 births)
Yian as a female name
- Ranked #15,161 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yian on both sides of the split. Of the 469 people counted with this name, 205 were male (43.7%) and 264 were female (56.3%).
Popularity
Yian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yian from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 84 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yian by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Yian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yians live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yian
The name Yian is a given name of uncertain origin, but it is believed to have roots in the ancient Aramaic language. Aramaic was a Semitic language that was widely spoken in the Middle East during the ancient times, particularly in regions such as Mesopotamia, Syria, and parts of Anatolia.
One possible derivation of the name Yian is from the Aramaic word "yanna," which means "grace" or "favor." This would suggest that the name Yian may have originally been given to individuals as a symbol of divine grace or as a wish for the child to be favored by the gods or higher powers.
Another theory suggests that Yian could be a variant of the name "Yohan," which is the Aramaic form of the Hebrew name "Yochanan," meaning "Yahweh is gracious." This name has biblical roots and was borne by several figures in the Old Testament, including John the Baptist.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Yian can be traced back to ancient Aramaic inscriptions and documents from the regions of modern-day Syria and Iraq. However, it is difficult to pinpoint exact individuals or historical figures who bore this name due to the scarcity of records and the variations in spelling and transliteration.
Throughout history, there have been a few notable individuals who carried the name Yian or its variants. One such person was Yian of Edessa, a 5th-century Syriac Christian scholar and philosopher who lived in the Byzantine Empire. He was known for his works on logic and philosophy, and his writings had a significant influence on the development of Syriac literature.
Another notable figure was Yian of Antioch, a 7th-century Syrian Orthodox bishop who played a crucial role in the spread of Christianity in the region. He was known for his efforts in building churches and monasteries, as well as his contributions to theological writings.
In the 10th century, there was a Persian scholar named Yian al-Tabrizi, who made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy. He is credited with writing several treatises on various mathematical and astronomical topics, including works on spherical trigonometry and the calculation of the solar and lunar eclipses.
Moving forward in history, there was a 13th-century Armenian prince named Yian of Lambron, who ruled over a principality in Cilicia, which was part of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. He is remembered for his involvement in the Crusades and his efforts to defend his lands against the Mamluks of Egypt.
In more recent times, one notable figure with the name Yian was Yian Garralda, a Spanish artist and sculptor who lived in the late 20th century. He was known for his abstract and figurative sculptures, which were widely exhibited in galleries and museums across Europe.
People
Yian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yian as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 135 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yian going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,538,921 US residents.
Is Yian a common name?
We classify Yian as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 136 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yian most popular?
The single biggest year for Yian was 2023, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yian is about 6 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 467 people with the name Yian, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,646 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Yian in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Yian?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yian on both sides of the split. Of the 469 people counted with this name, 205 were male (43.7%) and 264 were female (56.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Yian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yian is Asian/Pacific Islander at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.8%) and White (4.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Yian most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Yian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.4% (394 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Yian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yian a male name?
Yes, 83.8% of people registered as Yian in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Yian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yian in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Yian can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Yian?
Want to know how many people have the name Yian? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.